Category Archives: politics

my thoughts on Sarah Palin

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I think she could have been great.

I think she’s well equipped for her role as a governor. I think she knows Alaska, knows what the state needs and does her best to address those needs (within a political framework that I do not entirely agree with, but that’s beside the point)

And I think that right now, she is in WAY OVER her head.

She wasn’t ready for a national office. She wasn’t ready to address the needs and concerns of an entire country. If she’d had more time, say five or ten years, to prepare for the national stage then she might have been the right woman for the job. But she was thrust into the spotlight too soon.

Her recent interviews have been nothing short of painful. When I watch her I can almost feel the panic, when she’s asked a question to which she clearly does not know the anser, I can understand that urge to say something – anything – and before you realize it your mouth is going and you’re not entirely sure what’s coming out of it. It’s bad, and with a debate right around the corner, I really hope it doesn’t get worse.

She’s not stupid. She is not an unintelligent woman. I disagree with her on many issues, but I won’t denigrate her intellect. It is becoming clear that, quite simply, she was wildly underprepared and she’s suffering for it. Someone pointed out that keeping her away from the media might have hurt, rather than helped, because she wasn’t kept on her game.

I don’t know if that’s the case. What I do know is that she needs to prepare herself, she needs to learn as much as she can about these issues, and she needs to be ready with quick and solid answers.Because she’s going to bolster the notion that she was chosen for her gender, not her wits. Because the media is going to start tearing her apart, and it won’t just be sexist B.S. Because if she doesn’t step up to the plate, she is going to drag the whole campaign down and McCain’s support won’t ever recover.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t really want her within a heartbeat of the presidency. But I don’t like to see anyone so publically humiliated when they do not entirely deserve it. So where’s the Sarah Palin Recovery Plan?
 

verily, we can

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And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

i caucused!

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i caucused!

The Maine Democratic Caucus was today. I’ve never caucused before (I didn’t even know we had a caucus until recently) and I was a little unsure, to be honest. There’s something about the impersonality of a primary that makes it seem more comfortable for this introvert. But apathy be darned, I was going to participate.

And nothing quite tests your commitment to the political process like a TWO HOUR caucus. It seems that in our municipality, the caucus is also a town hall meeting of sorts for the Democratic party. Over half the time was spent electing representatives to various small town committees. I really don’t want to downplay the importance of the local government, but I think by the time we got around to the presidential candidates most people were tired and ready to go. That was unfortunate.

As you probably know by now, Obama won the caucus. The Baltimore Sun called us the “ayep” vote (that’s ayuh, thankyouverymuch) The race is still tight but I’m starting to feel, dare I say, a little optimism?

The Great Need of the Hour

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The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.

But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.

Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yolk of oppression.

And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:

“Unity is the great need of the hour” is what King said. Unity is how we shall overcome.